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Wednesday, December 11, 2013

An article from the 1960's on JFK's assassination shows European puzzlement of America's reaction to the assassination

Raymond Cartier, born in Niort in 1904 died in Paris in 1975. Grand columnist for Paris Match in the 1960s, he covered the whole affair Kennedy. His columns, which focused on international affairs and geopolitics were among the most widely read newspaper texts.

[This article was written before Sept 1964 when the Warren Report was given to LBJ. Cartier asks some good questions ]

There is a remarkable contrast between America and Europe about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In America, it is hardly an exaggeration to say that the case is being classified . The beginnings of President Johnson are extremely promising . Conservative Democrats , southern liberal, it causes a convergence of sympathies and membership . The question of his appointment as Democratic candidate for the 1964 election does not even arise . The question of election arises worth more . Kennedy , whose popularity was more superficial than Europeans believed was beatable . Johnson, barring accidents , did not . The only remaining open problem is that of Vice-President : Robert Kennedy? Stevenson ? Sargent Shriver ? X. .. ? After the terrible emotional shock , after the pain and humiliation of November 22 , America has continued with such regularity that the verification of the excellence of its institutions tends to push the assassination of its President to the rank of a terrible news item.

1 . On what date do you judge Ruby?

Ruby 's trial was announced on December 8 . It was adjourned to February. It probably will be again , and in any case it drags on for many months through the chicanes of the procedure. A law dam as only the elite can afford Gangland was drawn around the shabby taulier Carousel . The immediate goal of these highly specialized lawyers is to get bail for their client. Which will in case of need to close her mouth in turn in a definitive manner - which will in any case make it his answers and to call all his attitudes court. However , the American public shows relatively little impatience. The events of November 22 and 24 are already out of the agenda of the nation.

The behavior of Europe is completely different. Anyone who has returned from America since the drama Dallas is beset by curiosity, as if he belonged to bring light . Four weeks after its commission, the assassination of President of the United States remains by far the main topic of the European conversations. Almost as violent as in America , the shock of the murder reveals itself more sustainable Europe . Probably because Kennedy was a president facing outward and more popular outside than inside.

The interpretation of the crime also differs in a total manner . Nothing has been published five large volumes provided by the FBI to the Warren Commission , but leaks, " leaks " more or less oriented , indicate that the first conclusion is that Oswald was a " loner " a loner, and Ruby a " busy -body " which , taking in hand the justice of his country, is simply mixed with what does not concern him. They were strangers to each other and neither one nor the other were the instruments of a conspiracy . The accidental anarchist and an exhibitionist encounter a bitter paranoid paranoid and exuberant , as would ultimately explain the tragedy of Dallas. This conclusion , America agrees. Europe regrowth almost unanimously .

Following the conviction of Europeans , the drama of Dallas covers a mystery which, if disclosed, would dishonor America and shake to its foundations . Better to choke. The explanation of the solitary street killing the president of the United States as it does not kill a dog, Europe will perhaps believe in rigor. But the explanation of the informer , the householder ladle, merchant women , professional gangster killing the assassin of President by patriotic indignation , Europe is absolutely not believe . She is laughable. It lays on a plausible explanation of Oswald a lone radical doubt.

2 . Do you know the truth before 1965 ?

Instead of dissipating, the murky atmosphere surrounding the case thickens . Every day brings new evidence of lightness, anarchy , sabotage where the first investigations were continuing . It is recognized after four weeks a real autopsy was not done, there are doubts about the severity, location , nature and to the number of injuries that killed the president . Dallas doctors had counted two injuries doctors found three in Bethesda . On one of them, the throat, it is unclear whether it was made by a bullet ricochet , a piece of bone or metal fragments torn from the car. Theoretically, moreover, we know nothing, as the extinguisher of the Warren Commission descended on the investigation.

Also in theory, the blackout will last until the findings of the commission. Under the terms of the mandate it received from President Johnson, is responsible for ensuring out "that the truth is known as far as it can be Discovered ," insofar as it can be discovered, and report account "to him , to the American people and to the world ." The fulfillment of this mission may be delayed by several years. Not to mention the world, the American people will there until 1965 or 1966 how and why its 35th president was killed ?

The most amazing thing is that there may be more of a mystery. It is possible that the technical means and the FBI taking over facetious police texans, have fully understood the tragedy of November 22. If so, as is hoped, the heavy commission Warren would be a useless screen in front of the truth. His appointment is certainly part of a good intention. It is becoming increasingly likely that it was a mistake.

Americans, we say our correspondents were surprised and even exasperate the mindset that they find in Europe, especially in London and Paris. They see it as an offensive question the integrity of their political and police institutions. The question has often been mutual, but it is neither an explanation nor a justification. In this case, contradictions and blunders of the investigation, he was born of the remaining issues in the minds.

3 . FBI knows he Oswald secret?

The character remains mysterious. Perhaps we should say that it becomes more and more . Many published information it considers false or misleading . Should know all the circumstances of his life , his writings , all his associates, all political changes through which it passed . His stay in the USSR remains enigmatic . The Soviet authorities had nice gesture to communicate to the American government police records set on him - but they are empty. He got a job as an electrical engineer in Minsk , he is not an engineer or electrician and Minsk is a very closed city . The Soviets then a school of espionage and sabotage Allen Dulles, former head of the Central Intelligence Agency , a member of the Committee of Seven, knows well. Why did they send precisely Oswald in Minsk ? And why do we have left out of Russia , apparently without difficulty, with the woman he married ? The woman herself , is we know well ? She is young, she is pretty, she looks pitiful victim of a brutal and insane husband , she moves the American sensibility , she receives money and marriage proposals . This is pathetic , but Maigret not softened after having ensured that we did not seek to have a staging. There is also the landlady Irving , professor of Russian , Mrs . Paine, who had only one student , who patronized the Oswald, husband and wife. It is difficult to believe that the FBI does not know very exactly what you need to know on this medium . Why did he keep him?

A fact that has been highlighted recently is his union fanaticism. He saw the union the only defense against the exploited and the exploiter he sometimes refuse work in homes where the staff was not unionized. But Texas is the scene of fierce fighting around the " Teamsters " truckers, James Hoffa , union leader tinged gangster nemesis , mortal enemy of Robert Kennedy wants regiment at all costs. Jack Ruby , meanwhile , was a union organizer for the Teamsters and maintained complex contacts between various environments . We must see if the wakes Oswald and Ruby do not intersect in this way. We must also see that there are naturally truth in the allegations of American red and some European journalists following the same shade which contacts have existed between Oswald and right-wing organizations like the John Birch Society. Such an inquiry should leave no stone unturned .

4 . Who helped Oswald before the crime ?
His trip to Mexico two months before the assassination in Dallas, from 26 September to early October , it was too quick to say he was cleared and did not pose a problem. It is , however, extremely disturbing. Oswald applied for a visa to the USSR, with transit through Cuba. Why , if it was true he was disabused of Soviet communism and he was preparing to denounce a book ? He who does not have a penny , with what money he had undertaken this long journey ? Ruby has ensured that these issues can not be put to the person , but it is not impossible to find an experienced police clues. The least she could do is make hourly timetable Oswald since his departure from New Orleans until his return to Dallas. Which led ? How has he paid his expenses and what are all the people with whom he has been in contact ?

5 . Police she informed Ruby?
The journey was decided , say, in September. That is to say, prior to Oswald's trip to Mexico , which makes it even more suspect. Previously, a fortiori , of his employment by the Texas Schoolbooks Depository, which provided him hiring his shooting on the route of the presidential motorcade . To try to shed light on this fatal hiring, Paul Mathias and journalist who is shown in Dallas, Jean Campbell, granddaughter of Lord Beaverbrook and the first Duke of Scotland, went to see the director of the Depository, a named Ochus V. Campbell . Flattered homonyms, very upset to be involved in the most tragic case of the century , the brave man made ​​no difficulty to declare that he had hired Oswald, in early October , on the phone recommendation Mrs. . Paine, but he could not say how the landlady - Russian professor Irving knew he had work with him. This makes Mrs . Paine very interesting and should encourage the police to ensure that it is not an accident or loss . It will also know precisely when the principle and the various details of Kennedy 's visit to Dallas were arrested and up knowing that they could achieve . It must specify in particular the extent to which Jack Ruby relations with the police allowed him to be informed .

6 . Why so few precautions to Dallas?
There is a particularly irritating chapter. It is a branch of the Treasury Department , the Secret Service , which is responsible for the security of Chief Executive and members of his family. For a long time , this protection was a real priest who was said he was the director of the Secret Service a new praetorian prefect with a discretionary manner the new Caesar had become President of the United States. Precautions that surrounded it were great. The brutal zeal gorillas escorting Margaret Truman led Sweden vivid incidents and French police collaborated with the Secret Service can say that was an Eisenhower visit to Paris . Suddenly , everything relaxes. A few days before his assassination, Kennedy had crossed New York , stopping at red lights and , although there had been mauled Stevenson on October 24 , the Secret Service allowed to circulate the President in the burning city like Dallas without imposing a bulletproof dome on his convertible ! You must know thoroughly how and why this change occurred so amazing . If Kennedy is responsible for his death for opposing the usual precautions , the Secret Service has had to disclaim responsibility by appropriate warnings . We want to know . We want to know precisely how a trip to Dallas was organized and what account has been taken of the warnings that preceded it .

It is the same FBI . "It is too proud of its reputation and too independent , says a dispatch from Washington happens to me in response to my questions, " to be bulldozed into silence " , as well as newspapers and European magazines insinuate ... " There is no question, here at least, such an insinuation. The FBI is more meritorious even more beautiful police , it operates in a country where, to his great praise, police activity is limited by strong individual guarantees. But , in temporal matters , the Pope himself is not infallible . The FBI had an eye on Oswald. He was questioned in August in New Orleans after its manifestations pro -Castro . He was suspected of having fired a shot at General Walker , president of the John Birch Society. When a head of state visiting a city , it is common in the world to detain individuals suspected anarchist movements and monitor the buildings located on the route of the procession . The regrettable Dallas police itself had done something in this direction by placing twenty extremists in custody. Should be explained by any misfortune , for what fault , or any complicity Oswald escaped the dragnet , while customary death threats against presidents .

7 . A second rifle he used?

It is believed that the FBI report admits of no doubt. The paraffin test , ballistic tests , the study of trajectories, fingerprints, tissue fragments found on the butt of the weapon establish conclusively that Oswald was the assassin, he was alone , three shots fire only were fired and they all three came from the same gun . It goes without saying that these findings into the domain of pure technical and criminal from one of the world 's most experienced police have decisive authority. However, this authority will only be established when the terms of the report will be available in their full text . Also when all the issues raised by the unfolding drama Dallas have received a satisfactory answer. One of these issues is the second gun. It is a fact that John Campbell and Mathias going to Irving saw at the roadside store marked " Guns " and that they had the idea to enter by saying that we should know Hence the amateur gun that was Oswald. The owner , Mrs . Edith Whitworth, actually told them that a young man had appeared in the first days of November , asking that he rides a telescope on a rifle. The store sent the customer to the Irving Sports Shop, where , on the corresponding date , the gunsmith Dial Bryant adjusted bezel on a weapon other than the one that killed Kennedy.

It is argued today that was also another Oswald. But it is strange that, according to the very detailed testimony of the owner, confirmed by a client, Mrs. Hunter, the young man who ran the store Guns was accompanied by a woman holding in her hand a 2 year old having a baby in the arms of a few weeks and not answering questions put to him as if she did not understand English. The truth should be easy to establish since has received the signed "Oswald" which readers know the Match photograph and Mrs. Oswald must say if it was or was not the taciturn woman Mrs. store. Whitworth. Optionally, it may also say what the Ford, white and blue, model 1958 or 1959, which arrived in the small family who lent her husband.

8. Where was Oswald after the assassination?

In connection with the question of the second gun, just those of a second potential murderer, a fourth bullet which would have left a mark on the pavement, a fourth shot several witnesses thought they heard, an individual who fired on the presidential motorcade front of the bridge under which he would commit. Accounts of these assumptions are likely to be the result of the confusion that reigned at the time of the attack. They can not, however, be rejected without being emptied thoroughly.

The fatal bullet struck Kennedy at 12 h 31. From 12 h 33, Oswald was in the automatic snack bar Depository, orangeade hand . A detective put a pistol to his belly round asking if he belonged to the house. Roy Truly , his supervisor , replied in the affirmative , which allowed Oswald to leave the Depository and go to his room furnished successively using a bus, a taxi and legs , then change and highlights . Why is it directed to an area where he had absolutely nothing to do? Was he going to go ? He had prepared his escape and eventually with the help of whom? Why he had kept quiet remarkable after killing the president has it suddenly turned into panic ? Some who have studied drama feel that something is broken at this point in a scenario which , hitherto , had been smooth . Oswald was no longer the impulse that killed the police officer Tippit , which agitated that stood out as they changed positions every minute in the cinema where he had taken refuge .

9 . The agent Tippit was he a friend of Ruby?

He died in alleged government business, he was buried with military honors , he has or will have his name on the marble slab that now the third floor of the historic city of Dallas , commemorates the members of the municipal police victims of duty. This does not preclude asking why , contrary to the rule , he was alone in his police car . Or how he recognized Oswald , having changed jacket was no longer conforms to report broadcast by radio. Or it is true that Tippit , a member of Vice and Narcotic Squad, was a rather murky individual private progress for ten years as a disciplinary measure , but long-time friend of Jack Ruby.

10 . Ruby in prison is it safe?

All journalists of both worlds hastened to give Dallas staggering details about gaps in initial findings so vital and often so fleeting . But is surpassed by the indecent crowd amid which Oswald was interrogated for mayor of Dallas. We want to know if during those forty- eight precious hours , nobody intervened Washington or Austin, capital of Texas , so that the investigation is conducted in a more serious manner and for the accused , witness main drama which already belonged to history , is protected. If such intervention occurred , as is commonly believed , we would like to know the answer authorities Dallas.

Ruby, one, it is held. At least temporarily. So we can trace him carefully his interesting career and scrutinizing the movements of heart, soul and conscience who armed his vengeful arm. But for the love of God, we watch religiously on his precious person. If it disappears in turn, it would definitely be impossible to convince skeptical Europeans that the cascade drama Dallas is a series of individual actions independent of each other. Americans themselves might be seized with some suspicion.